14th Amendment option on the debt ceiling would need to overcome DOJ concerns. Section Five of the Fourteenth Amendment vests Congress with the authority to adopt "appropriate" legislation to enforce the other parts of the Amendment.The president says he is willing to discuss possible deficit savings, but without the threat of the federal government being unable to pay its bills. The meaning is, that every citizen shall hold his life, liberty, property, and immunities, under the protection of the general rules which govern society.". The debt ceiling, created under the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917, sets the maximum amount of money that the United States can borrow. The 14th Amendment, the Debt Ceiling and a Way Out, N.Y. Times, July 25, 2011, at A10. (quoting Professor Jack Balkin). The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The Constitution forbids using the threat of national default the way some in Congress are now using it. 2 Congress, first in.